Crime getting worse in the city and why?

[Relax10]

How does everyone feel about how safe the city is now? Yes there is a rise in hate crimes and homeless. Walking around different parts of the city obviously will have different results. Granted the Downtown Eastside for years has had it's issues but all the random assaults now is something that seems like a more growing problem.


"Every day the city of Vancouver experiences an average of four stranger assaults. Fear, and the perception of danger, is growing. What's behind the disturbing trend? "
...................................
“There’s certainly a perception in the city that things are less safe than they used to be. There’s a different feeling out there,” he says.

https://vancouversun.com/news/crime...tranger-assaults-whats-happening-to-vancouver

 

[jamasianman]

I think its covid. The way its affected our society. Homeless people aren't able to get handouts as change because most businesses and people try to go cashless so less handling of coins and paper money. People don't carry money anymore and the homeless get less and they get more desperate and angry. Its not just that alone though.
More shoplifting with increase of food prices. The general isolation or the stress of the world nowadays. People travel less or suffer from some sort of hardship. It really has been a few rough years. We had nearly 900 people die from just a heat wave in the city. Massive flooding and cold snaps affect farmers and people living outside. No more government handouts like back in 2020 when this first started. Everyone is just generally more on edge and there are those who aren't as stable as others. People stabbing each other over being bumped on the skytrain or other random acts of violence.

 

[Chuckerbie]

I think its covid. The way its affected our society. Homeless people aren't able to get handouts as change because most businesses and people try to go cashless so less handling of coins and paper money. People don't carry money anymore and the homeless get less and they get more desperate and angry. Its not just thay alone though.
More shoplifting with increase of food prices. The general isolation or the stress of the world nowadays. People travel less or suffer from some sort of hardship. It really has been a few rough years. We had nearly 900 people die from just a heat wave in the city. Massive flooding and cold snaps affect farmers and people living outside. No more government handouts like back in 2020 when this first started. Everyone is just generally more on edge and there are those who aren't as stable as others. People stabbing each other over being bumped on the skytrain or other random acts of violence.

I agree with all the above. The gap between the haves and the have nots keeps getting wider. As for the violence I really thing the street drugs of today have a lot to do with it.
There are a lot of fried brains out there.

 

[ExpCharlee]

It's end times. The apocalypse has begun. Yeehawwwwww

 

[emacky]

I think it's more of the existing issues exploding at the seams. We've constantly cut mental health services and had limited resources to help the homeless.

Most places I use to volunteer at haven't done any events for less fortunate in three years. I'm sure people still donate stuff but everything needs to double checked due to Covid.

A lot of people who work unskilled jobs are finding it hard to survive as there wasn't a big demand for their services.

Also, the ability to access news from less that credibile sources has really pushed some people to the deep end.

 

[LLLurkJ2]

I think it's more of the existing issues exploding at the seams. We've constantly cut mental health services and had limited resources to help the homeless.

Most places I use to volunteer at haven't done any events for less fortunate in three years. I'm sure people still donate stuff but everything needs to double checked due to Covid.

A lot of people who work unskilled jobs are finding it hard to survive as there wasn't a big demand for their services.

Also, the ability to access news from less that credibile sources has really pushed some people to the deep end.

Hm, imagine if we had dealt with these problems back when we had money.

 

[westwoody]

Hm, imagine if we had dealt with these problems back when we had money.

I remember when they shut that facility out past Coquitlam. Was it called Essendale?
Suddenly a ton of screwed up people appeared downtown, camping in Stanley Park and alleys.

That video of the guy getting stabbed in the coffee shop was scary, it could have been any of us.

 

[DrunkWhenSober]

Good timing on this post lol. Someone cut a live cable to a building couple days ago and I had to replace it. Crazy crackheads

 

[LLLurkJ2]

I remember when they shut that facility out past Coquitlam. Was it called Essendale?
Suddenly a ton of screwed up people appeared downtown, camping in Stanley Park and alleys.

That video of the guy getting stabbed in the coffee shop was scary, it could have been any of us.

Im suprised CT didnt accuse the stabber of being a Starbucks agent.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

I think it's more of the existing issues exploding at the seams. We've constantly cut mental health services and had limited resources to help the homeless.

Most places I use to volunteer at haven't done any events for less fortunate in three years. I'm sure people still donate stuff but everything needs to double checked due to Covid.

A lot of people who work unskilled jobs are finding it hard to survive as there wasn't a big demand for their services.

Also, the ability to access news from less that credible sources has really pushed some people to the deep end.

I agree wholeheartedly that the core issue is mental health. Do better at handling that and homelessness and addiction rates fall, then all rates associated with it falls too.
It won't fix all of societal issues but it will be a big push in the right direction.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

I remember when they shut that facility out past Coquitlam. Was it called Essendale?
Suddenly a ton of screwed up people appeared downtown, camping in Stanley Park and alleys.

That video of the guy getting stabbed in the coffee shop was scary, it could have been any of us.

The Riverview facility in Coquitlam.
Those cases got transferred into a host of facilities few of which were properly equipped to deal with the patients. Well meaning and they did the best they could ...
They didn't just release them, but those that were afflicted were not handled correctly so there is a marginalized set of the population out there.

On the issue of crime on the streets, I am glad I can carry myself and I am a good size if that means anything. But I keep an eye out, learned long ago to watch reflections in the windows, be as aware as possible of who is around me.

Nothing you can really do though if some bat shit whack job decides to hack at you with a 15inch machete.

 

[jamasianman]

I've also had a few friends who worked loss prevention and the legal system is a joke. Its so lax on criminals, especially shoplifting. For example if you walk into a store and shove something down your pants or in your backpack, you haven't left the property yet so therefore you haven't shoplifted. Its only when you leave the building without paying that someone can confront you. And if a security guard or loss prevention officer touches you in store you can fight back full on and not get prosecuted because they put their hands on you, which is not allowed. Security guards have very little recourse when it comes to aggressive thieves. One lady sued a store because she had diapers on the bottom of her cart and they accused her of stealing, she took them to court and said she forgot and got a nice settlement out of it.(defamation) The same goes for skytrain attendants, they don't really have any power.

And then you see people randomly assaulting folks, police won't give a few nights in jail for them to cool off, just slap on the wrist with a promise to come to court. And how many people walk away from low security halfway houses? It almost feels like Arkham Asylum at times the number of reports, like a revolving door system. Everyone should just take up some self defense or boxing to prep themselves against potential attacks. Its especially scary because I just saw another restaurant Karen attack video, someone got it at shameless buns for no reason. It can happen while you're walking down the street but now its not limited to just on the street.

 

[thecave]

Crime is not getting worse…. If you go to the crime statistics and look at the relevant metrics on crime per capita, almost all dimension are relatively flat or declining YoY from 2019 to 2021. There are some spikes and edge case but overall, wouldn’t say crime is rising.

These articles may make people think that, but in reality, it is pointing out those areas of concern in the edge cases so we should focus on improving them as a society.

 

[oldshark]

The Riverview facility in Coquitlam.
Those cases got transferred into a host of facilities few of which were properly equipped to deal with the patients. Well meaning and they did the best they could ...
They didn't just release them, but those that were afflicted were not handled correctly so there is a marginalized set of the population out there.

On the issue of crime on the streets, I am glad I can carry myself and I am a good size if that means anything. But I keep an eye out, learned long ago to watch reflections in the windows, be as aware as possible of who is around me.

Nothing you can really do though if some bat shit whack job decides to hack at you with a 15inch machete.

Yup, Riverview. We used to joke about it as kids.

When Reagan was the governor of California, he felt that the community would take better care of the inmates so the State started shutting down facilities. Everyone else joined in. Yah, everything went for a crap because the government was trying to save money rather than trying to actually do something.

 

[carvesg]

Good timing on this post lol. Someone cut a live cable to a building couple days ago and I had to replace it. Crazy crackheads

Did he walk away or you retrieved the boot soles after the melt ?

 

[Elite Exotic Models]

My car got broken into in broad daylight, on Alberni and Thurlow!

 

[rlock]

Crime is not getting worse…. If you go to the crime statistics and look at the relevant metrics on crime per capita, almost all dimension are relatively flat or declining YoY from 2019 to 2021. There are some spikes and edge case but overall, wouldn’t say crime is rising.

These articles may make people think that, but in reality, it is pointing out those areas of concern in the edge cases so we should focus on improving them as a society.

Statistics are used by criminologists and politicians to say "well, crime is actually down", but those stats all depend on things like crimes reported, convictions won, etc. - they cannot measure what they're not hearing about. Reporting of crimes has never kept up with actual crimes, especially these days. Dismissing the current crime wave as "anecdotal" is foolish. It is much like the real estate crisis - which was denied for so many years by officialdom until it became too obvious to ignore or downplay. Now, taking a real look in hindsight, we see how much the public got right and the officials got (deliberately) wrong, including how much of the real estate business is actually driven by money laundering & corruption.

With that said, if people see that going on with street crime, then who the fuck bothers reporting crimes any more? Yes, people should always do so in theory, but what they want is justice, and in practice, they get none.

The public senses already that the cops, the prosecutors, and especially the judges can't or won't do anything to punish crime. (Not street crime, not white collar crime, not crime syndicate crime, not corporate crime.) Nobody can be prosecuted, but anybody can be sued. Who does that benefit?

In other words, we common folk must bend and bend until we all break, while they throw a violent tantrum if you ask them to bend at all. We are forced to tip-toe around such toxic people now, having set a pattern where that they can use coercive force, but we dare not. do the same for the greater good.

"The Street" knows it too. Addicts, fraudsters, squatters, rapists, drug dealer thug bros, nazi militia nutjobs, anti-vaxx protesting goofs - all of them have no fear of consequences anymore, so they act very bold.

TL;DR version:
Morale is a very subtle and collective thing, and our system sending signals of defeatism has big consequences. Believe me, those who do harm to those around them have heard this signal loud and clear. They can sense society's weakness, so they attack without fear.

 

[rlock]

Yup, Riverview. We used to joke about it as kids.

When Reagan was the governor of California, he felt that the community would take better care of the inmates so the State started shutting down facilities. Everyone else joined in. Yah, everything went for a crap because the government was trying to save money rather than trying to actually do something.

I remember that, as part of the Socred "restraint" program up here.

I mean the old asylums like Riverview were basically dungeons, full of cruelty and horrors, but I don't think tossing all the inmates out on the streets was anything like real mental health reform.

 

[rlock]

It's end times. The apocalypse has begun. Yeehawwwwww

Are you surfing the Kali Yuga? I thought Charlee don't surf.

 

[scooner]

I’ve lived downtown for close to 9 years now and in my mine things definitely got worst off around the the time the pandemic first started. When a few of the hotels such as the Howard Johnston, Ramada, and Holiday Inn on the west end were purchased and converted to supportive housing along with the approval of the overdose prevention site along Helmcken in my mind crime and safety increased overnight. Granville Street between David and Nelson is starting to look like the new DTES, druggies in many of the alleys now, I’ve come across several overdosed individuals laying on sidewalks near restaurants on Hamilton and Mainland in the middle of the day. Stabbing sprees like the one a few days ago where there was an attempted stabbing in Emery Park, a fellow stabbed in the face while sitting in a restaurant on Davie Street, and a lady walking on Hornby will become more common unless theres a collective ownership by the three level of government on tackling the increasing homeless and drug problems in this city. Unless you are the Mayor you can’t order city resources to come immediately and evict people near your home or work space.